JeanieCM

We really enjoyed our Grand Turk excursion which consisted of seeing sea life from a submarine, visiting one of the beautiful beaches, visiting a turtle farm, and a few other stops. Our guide (Trevor?) was wonderful--a former school teacher who now does tours full-time. First time we'd ever seen a blue iguana which was also exciting.

Dive-In Burger for sure. We love Canaletto meals. We've had mixed experiences with Pinnacle Grille, but this last cruise, the food was superb. Extra cost is $15 pp for Canaletto and I think $25 pp for Pinnacle? The made-to-order omelets in Lido are extraordinary, as are all of the desserts.

I would also second bringing some warm clothing. It was pretty chilly when we were in the Caribbean in January. I get cold easily so I was definitely glad I brought a sweatshirt & fleece jogging pants. Sitting on a verandah when the ship is moving can be chillier than one might think.

Hope your parents have a wonderful time!

The custom omelets--only a few minutes wait on the Maasdam.

The salad bar--with plenty of bleu cheese & bleu cheese dressing!

One night they had a superb spinach, mushroom, goat cheese strudel. I could eat that every day.

As for desserts...I'd say the absolute best were the flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce,

and the chocolate mousse. I did try quite a few. :p

Thanks so much! The airport people at Fort Lauderdale were helpful & efficient with checking our luggage & obtaining our boarding passes when we were there in January. I think we'll save ourselves the potential worry with Luggage Direct. Won't be a big thing to lug our larger suitcase that short distance & we'll even save a few bucks. :)

We are thinking of using the Luggage Direct option in Fort Lauderdale. I know that gives us the option of disembarking early. But is that really an option or a necessity? Can we stay on board & disembark with another group, as long as that group's bus gets us to the airport in plenty of time for our flight?

I drank the tap water on Westerdam. It tasted just fine to me.

I second using Sea Bands. We had super-rough waters for part of our Hawaiian cruise...think "almost hitting one wall then the other walking down the hall" rough. ;) But our Sea Bands kept us feeling fine the entire time.

Yes, same cruise! We like that this one is rather port-intensive. I'm a big Anne of Green Gables fan so I'm especially looking forward to Prince Edward Island.

Thank you both so much! So excited to be going on this cruise!

DH and I are doing the Atlantic Coast cruise in a couple weeks on the Maasdam. We've

been assigned Vista Suite #167.

Does anyone have any input about that particular cabin and/or its location on the ship in

terms of desirability?

Also, will we definitely keep this cabin now that it's been assigned, or does HAL sometimes

change the cabin even after notification? If so, how likely is that?

Thanks for any help! :):)

It looks like you are very close to an elevator and in an area where there is less traffic. A guarantee starts with the lowest in a category so you were "upgraded" one level within that category. Just a suggestion: If you start a new thread asking about that cabin or area you may get some responses from others who have stayed in one.

 

As to a suggestion for cabin changes... I had to book an OV guarantee when I was traveling single in April. I kept my eye on the sailing and as soon as I saw a Verandah open up I contacted HAL. It wasn't much more to pay for an upgrade and was worth it to me.

 

Good luck and have a lovely cruise. Whatever happens you will be on the sea and being catered to by the nicest staff ever. Who wouldn't love that?

Can you tell me how to "keep an eye on the sailing"? I don't know how to locate information on which cabins have been filled. Thank you!

1) Dive-In Burgers--delicious 2) the strawberry mousse dessert--heavenly (as were all the desserts) 3) spaetzle--hadn't had it in years & it was so good 4) I don't even want to think about how much bacon I ate. They pile it on and I never summoned the willpower to turn any of it down. :)

I will add a positive as well. When we got our paperwork from our TA, it showed we hadn't purchased cancellation insurance; however, we had indeed added the HAL standard cancellation plan. The TA had recorded phone call records which proved this had been done. Since it was HAL's error, they gave the insurance to us at no cost. Nice to save $370 or so! Mistakes happen...I was glad to see them take responsibility for this and make it right.

Just booked our second HAL cruise ... Canada/New England in August. So excited! I'll review the destinations board, too, but does anyone here have recommendations for "must sees".

We will be on that cruise as well. I am so looking forward to it! Being a huge Anne of Green Gables fan, we've booked the Ultimate Anne experience in Charlottetown. Also looking forward to kayaking in Bar Harbor. As we've visited Boston numerous times, we will probably get off & just do a little walking there.

I had called to purchase the cancellation insurance as well. Since we booked through a travel agent, ended up having to call her to put it in place. We are paying $378 for the standard cancellation plan for our upcoming 13 day cruise. I recall paying $700, maybe a little more, for the Platinum "cancel anytime before you put foot on the ship" plan when we did our 18 day Hawaiian trip. Don't know how or whether # of days/location/ etc. may figure into the insurance cost.

There are package deals but pretty expensive, IMO. I paid $250 for 1000 minutes on Eurodam in January. Service was spotty and connection took a long time. Loved the Westerdam where they are/were trying out a social media only package...paid like $130 for unlimited internet...and that was on an 18 day cruise. If I wasn't addicted to Facebook, I'd be a lot richer. :D

We cruised to Hawaii in late February last year. We had pretty rocky seas and the weather was quite chilly out on the water. But I still was able to bundle up in a hoodie for a brisk walk on the promenade deck...and the Hawaiian islands themselves had beautiful weather--shorts or capris & sleeveless shirts. Oh, and we saw lots of whales--just as many swimming near the ship as on our whale watch later that day! It was thrilling!

Thank you all so much for your responses! It's good to have accurate info from people "in the know"...much appreciated!

I hope that in the April 2018 drydock, the Eurodam adopts the same unlimited plans that the Westerdam has., Great speed, and the 3 levels of pricing was for the whole cruise. No minutes pricing.

I agree! We were spoiled on our Westerdam Hawaiian cruise, both with the reasonable price & the excellent speed of the internet. HAL would be smart to extend that program.

I paid $250 for 1000 minutes on our Caribbean cruise on Eurodam this January. Be aware that, on that itinerary at least, it often took a long time to connect. The front desk did give me 100 extra minutes when I told them about it.

We've done the 18 day Hawaii (Westerdam) and 14 day Eastern/Western Caribbean (Eurodam). Now we'll be doing the Atlantic Coast cruise on Maasdam in August.

I read that jeans aren't allowed on Maasdam in Lido--that can't be correct, can it? Is the Maasdam somewhat dressier than the other ships or pretty much the same?

What is the internet service like for that cruise? The Westerdam's was superb (and cheap!)...the Eurodam, expensive and spotty.

Has anyone done this Atlantic Cruise in August? Were the outside temperatures "seasonable" eg. mostly in

the 70's during the day, low 50's at night? Are there individual thermostats in the cabins & do they work well? This girl freezes a lot of the time. ;) Have learned to ask for a couple blankets as soon as we board, but still...;p

We have reservations for a cruise from San Diego round trip to Hawaii. Now, my DH is a little concerned about the five sea days each way--wondering what he will do with all of the time. We do not use the casino. He does like to read, and on earlier cruises has enjoyed some of the computer classes.

 

Just wondering what some of the rest of you have done with five sea days in a row. He is not someone to enjoy cooking classes, or hulu lessons, etc.

 

Hoping that we don't need to cancel the cruise.

 

Thanks.

Just wanted to say that we took this cruise in February of this year and had the time of our lives! We read a lot, sat on the verandah when weather permitted, did lots of talking, attended some of the shows, saw a couple on-board movies & rented a couple, and lounged by the pool enjoying beverages. I also walked a great deal on deck in a (futile) ;p effort not to gain any weight from all those good meals! We did feel that a day or two fewer sea days might have suited us better; however, the ports & fun we had would make us do it all over again--and we may in 2019!

We sailed on the Westerdam in Feb '17. I was very pleased with my unlimited (social media) internet plan; however, I understand Eurodam (on which we'll be sailing Jan '18) may still be under various minute plans. Searching the forums, I could only find information that was 2-3 years old.

Does anyone have any solid information on the current Eurodam internet plans/costs?

I am so very very sorry that this happened to you & your family. A tragedy for those killed & their families...and just as devastating for those living with the horror of having experienced this.

Kazu--thanks so much for the clear & comprehensive reply about internet--exactly what I needed to know! :)

We sailed to the Bahamas a few years back on Carnival. Now we'll soon be off on the 18 day trip to Hawaii through Holland America! I've seen that Westerdam is now offering unlimited internet access in tiers. I'd like to know the exact cost of the low and medium tiers and what each includes but, as importantly, how I sign up & pay for that? Do I have to wait til we are onboard or is this something that my TA can handle for us before we sail? Or if we need to do it ourselves, how & where do I access that information? Thanks for any insight and I hope I'm posting this in the appropriate place. These pages contain invaluable information for us mostly "newbie" cruisers!